Archive for Feb 26, 2009

Nokia is considering a move into the laptop business, according to Chief Executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, with the exec citing convergence between cellphones and notebooks as a key motivator. Speaking to a Finnish broadcaster this week, Kallasvuo highlighted the growing number of people whose first internet experience is on a cellphone, saying that Nokia was "looking very actively" at the segment.

Abee Japan have announced a new desktop PC case which, thanks to some neat little aluminum legs, gives you a space to push your keyboard out of the way. The Abee Japan smart SC120D has room for either a Micro-ATX or Mini-ITX motherboard, along with two 3.5-inch bays and a 2.5-inch bay.

Nintendo Japan have unveiled a new controller for the Wii, an update of the classic controller design that they're calling the Classic Controller PRO. The new design adds hand-grips and increases the space between the joysticks; it also throws a few more shoulder buttons into the mix.

Intel turned personal in their battle against NVIDIA's Ion earlier this week, with the release of a "Competitive Position Guide" that systematically attempted to undermine the HD-capable netbook graphics chipset. Now NVIDIA have struck back with their own document, somewhat obviously titled "NVIDIA response to Intel claims on Ion", in which they address each of Intel's criticisms.

More details about the slimline Acer Aspire One spotted yesterday have emerged, in the shape of some hands-on images and what are suggested to be the new netbook's specifications. According to the anonymous source, the netbook - which is the ZG8 according to the product label - runs Intel's 1.6GHz N270 Atom processor with 1GB of RAM and, contrary to initial expectations, a 160GB hard-drive rather than an SSD.

Nokia's N800 Internet Tablet has been many things, but it's not normally a platform for running VMware. Just because nobody does, though, it doesn't mean they couldn't: at the VMworld Europe 2009 expo, the N800 was demonstrated running Google's Android platform in VMware.

Ripping off the protective plastic from a new gadget is half the fun of buying it, but what do you do when the manufacturer seals it up inside the device? That's what HP Mini 1000 owners are finding, after the company shipped the netbooks with a protective black-tinted film stuck across the webcam. HP aren't officially recognizing it as a manufacturing problem, but Gear Diary persuaded an HP employee to star in a video of how to dismantle your Mini 1000 and remove the offending plastic.

LG's detachable QWERTY touchscreen feature-phone, the LG Versa, has been officially announced for Verizon Wireless. Available March 1st 2009, the Verizon LG Versa has a 3-inch 480 x 240 touchscreen, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR and EV-DO Rev.A; however its most striking feature is the included case, which has a built-in QWERTY keyboard and, on the outside, a 0.94-inch 56 x 120 monochrome OLED display used for Caller ID, phone status and displaying the time.

Addonics has come out with an innovative and compact size 4x1 Port Multiplier with integrated hardware Raid controller that’s OS independent. It comes in the form of System version (PCI-form factor) – to enable multiple hard drives inside a system to be connected together to form a RAID volume -- or Enclosure version – arts as external RAID array that fits inside Addonics family of Storage Tower, Storage Rack or other standard multi-bay enclosures.

Back in October Macbook event, Steve Job expressed his view on Blu-ray’s gimmick as a “bag of hunt”, its licensing were too complex and the company hinted to wait on prices to fall further before entering the market. Job was right about the complication; and today, the founders of Blu-ray have revealed plan to unify the Blu-ray standard licensing, which would result in much simplified registering process and lower Blu-ray products cost, by as much as 40 percent less.

Despite the PMA 2009 is less than a week away, Tamron have not revealed anything new for PMA 2009 yet. But recently, the company has quietly announced the EF-mount for its long-awaited SP AF10-24mm F/3.5-4.5 Di II ultra wide zoom lens in Japan.